To hate the way social media has become a tool to blackmail businesses

[Misscromwellrocks]

I have just been reading a thread where someone managing a holiday let business is afraid to withhold a deposit from a couple who left the place like a pigsty because they might put negative reviews on line.

I often hear of restaurant staff afraid to approach unruly families for the same reason.

AIBU to find this a pretty worrying development that can ruin small businesses or make it very difficult to run them properly, and to also not understand why people who weren't there and don't know the facts are happy to join in with the chorus of disapproval and insult slinging?

YADBBU. If I could un-invent something, it would be twitter.

YADNBU, that should have said.

YABU plenty of businesses manage fine by showing up unfair reviews for what they are.
On the other hand I I’m sick to death of businesses that treat me as a customer or potential customer like dirt and there being no recourse - review sites and social media have redressed that balance YABVU

BTW I don’t accept that twitter can “ruin a small business”. That’s just hype.

I think I agree with you to a certain extent. Some customers have no shame.

OOH some businesses are dreadful

Swings and roundabouts innit

There is a big company I placed a Christmas present order with which never arrived. They have ignored literally all emails and don’t answer the phone. I’m glad for Twitter because that’s the one place they actually will respond on. So I’m glad for that.

But small companies with trip advisor reviews? Not so cool.

But if its hype why are so many businesses reluctant to confront rude or inconsiderate customers any more, citing negative comments on twitter as the reason?

Totally agree op. The fact that people use the threat of a bad review to try and get free stuff annoys me too.
And 'influencers' who want to pay in 'exposure'!

I don't know, to be honest. I think it is about learning how to play the game. Some businesses have increased their popularity by responding to negative reviews in a clever way. When I am reading reviews, I don't just go by the reviews left by the clients, but also by the way that the companies respond. I think that social media can be a useful way to get the attention of companies that are trying to ignore their customers - although I think it is potentially more damaging for the smaller companies. Tricky!

I work in hospitality and people are dicks with it. I get threats constantly from people saying they'll write all over TripAdvisor/Facebook/Twitter if I can't accommodate their party when the restaurant is fully booked or when their food doesn't arrive within 10 minutes or they don't like the taste of a drink etc.

Businesses have the ability to reply. Pictures of said pigsty would make the couple look foolish and very few would still sympathise with the couple.

Ju to clarify, I'm not objecting to customers having recourse to on line review sites per sé, just to the irresponsible way some people use this tool.

It's not blackmail, it's called leaving a review so no one else ends up in the same situation.

Also, a lot of businesses are built through social media. People just tend to be more vocal about bad experiences.

If that person wants to withhold part or all of a deposit, they need to work out the cost of fixing the problems and present it to the renter in a professional manner. Then even if they complain, they can stand up for themselves and their decision.

Also the social media departments of most companies are often run by external companies who have no idea how the company actually works or what their policies are.

For example, someone might tweet to say they're outraged that I can't fit in their party of 20 on New Year's Eve with 10 minutes notice and the marketing department will tweet back saying "I'm so sorry I'll get a manager in touch with you right away" so I then have to waste my time calling the person back to tell them the exact same thing.

Agree with above poster - you will always get some customers who will try to take the piss, but I think you can normally tell a balanced review with justified criticism from someone just having a rant. Plus the business can reply with their version of events, and if this is done in the right way it will show up the unfair reviews for what they are. I agree that businesses/companies should be able to be held to account for poor service (customer or generally), and sadly sometimes the only way you can actually get something resolved is to go public on social media.

Eventually it will settle down and cut both ways. Much as I detest Uber, they have rider ratings, so arsehole customers will pretty quickly find it harder to get service.

Of course you can set up fake accounts to leave shot reviews (despite Facebook insisting all of their 200 billion accounts are owned by real people ) but that account (a) won't have much clout as a reviewer and (b) won't attract the attention if it needs servicing.

By now we should all have seen Black Mirror, and worked out how this will end.

And China already is introducing a "digital citizen" entity where points mean prizes ....

It's one thing tweeting a complaint about a business refusing to engage with you about an order that never arrived or some such. That's a proper and fair use of social media.

But I'm thinking about people asked for instance to stop letting their feral kids swing out of the curtains and run about the hotel lounge screaming their heads off who then rush angrily onto twitter to brand the place as, 'child unfriendly' while all their mates, who weren't even there, sympathise and support them.

Yeah i remember the boycott Flora one

Part and Parcel of Cancel Culture, read Jon Ronsons 'So you've been publicly shamed'.

As always though it takes for the snake to eat itself before people start to pay attention.

It's interesting isn't it - because in the case of (for example) a restaurant who won't address bad behaviour because of bad reviews will get MORE bad reviews from other diners whose meal is being disrupted and nothing is done about it. No normal person would not go to a place because of 1 bad review, particularly if the owner responded with the facts. Why are businesses so obsessed with having 100% good reviews ? You can't please all the people all the time so I would think that was more fishy than a couple of bad reviews!!

But I'm thinking about people asked for instance to stop letting their feral kids swing out of the curtains and run about the hotel lounge screaming their heads off who then rush angrily onto twitter to brand the place as, 'child unfriendly' while all their mates, who weren't even there, sympathise and support them.

Which will leave a trail. Next booking, when the venue uses "CustomerCheck" (a new service created by aggregating peoples social media feeds to subscribing companies) and realises they are the internets answer to Shameless:Live! they won't be able to book anywhere. Not if there's a more well behaved customer in the queue. Same would go for their bonehead friends. After all, would you accept a booking from someone who tweeted supporting them ?

Why are businesses so obsessed with having 100% good reviews ?

Because they're a bit dim ?

I hate the way social media has become a tool to blackmail people full stop. I'm not going to cry more about businesses than I am about people. Further, it is the culture that is the problem as much as the tool. Britain is a horribly snobby place.

BTW did you know that reviews are easily faked, and fake reviews are becoming increasingly common? The internet is becoming increasingly unusable.

BTW did you know that reviews are easily faked, and fake reviews are becoming increasingly common? The internet is becoming increasingly unusable.

Or just reflecting wider life ?

I don't like the assumption that 99.9% of the population aren't able enough to do their own research beyond angered messages left all over the internet.